Archive for March, 2014

I’ve redone the flipper physics so that they no longer glide frictionlessly under the ball. (Setting a Box2D rigidbody’s velocity directly is more respectable than teleporting its position. Using forces was simply too laggy)

The flipper bases now have nubbins on the end opposite the flipper to stop the ball from rolling off.

Added gamepad controls. I’ve only tested them on a 360 controller so far. Gamepads give you the ability to move the two flippers independently.

Flippers can now cross the center-line by a smidge, to help out when you lunge with the wrong flipper.

Mouse sensitivity is now consistent between different resolutions.

Visuals:

The combo blocks now have symbols associated with them to make it easier for colour blind folks.

I animated the combo blocks entering the combo stack. I use a depth mask above and below the stack and suspect it may cause compatibility problems. Let me know if you see blocks poking out the end.

I’ve been experimenting with different art styles for Pinballesque. Here are some of the test renderings I’ve made with Zen Photon Garden, a 2D raytracer (the high quality batch version, not the web based one).

Zen Photon Garden is unusual because instead of the output being based on lit surfaces, it’s a map of photon density across a 2D area. This gives an interesting smoky look where every shaft of light stands out in stark relief.

Film noir styles! If only my game weren’t about colour combos…

Woah. Too disco.

I said ‘too disco’!

After manual compositing in the GIMP

Some promising results, but for consistencies’ sake I’d have to do lush shading on all the rest of the art too, which is daunting. The dark lines extending from the ends of the walls are an artefact I’d like to get rid of. I think I can fudge it in my Unity -> ZPG exporter by rounding the corners of the boxes.